April 9, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1427

KARACHI, April 8: The weighted average CFS rate on the Karachi Stock Exchange last week declined further to 17.4 per cent from the previous 17.8 per cent as the demand for funds was relatively slow owing to weekend price flare-up. But CFS investment was maintained on the higher side, around the upper limit at Rs24.6 billion, showing a modest rise of Rs0.1 billion over the previous week’s figure, they added.

CFS investment on the Lahore Stock Exchange, however, suffered a fall of Rs1.7 billion as compared to Rs2.3 billion a week earlier. And as a result, the CFS rate fell to 15.3 per cent.

However, the conditions on the stock future contracts were not that encouraging as the weekend bull-run on the KSE pushed the spreads higher by 20.4 per cent, showing an increase of 18.4 per cent over the previous figure or 200 basis points, they said.

The open interest also showed a sharp rise of Rs4.4 billion at Rs18.1 billion as investors took strong positions in the April contracts after the settlement of March futures.